Appeal No. 1997-0287
Application 08/263,034
was conventional (specification, page 11). The Examiner cites
Andres as evidence of this conventional structure. Andres
discloses everything in claims 5, 11, and 14 except for the
fluid thrust balancing structure of a control passage, a
control valve, and a controller, and the limitation in
claim 11 that "said controller only regulates said control
valve when said thrust bearing current exceeds 20% of said
maximum value of said thrust bearing current."
It is admitted that turbo machinery having mechanisms for
adjusting thrust loading in conjunction with conventional
thrust bearings are known as illustrated by Swearingen '689
and Swearingen '768 (specification, page 2). Swearingen '689
and '768 show a passage, a control valve, and a controller for
controlling the axial thrust in response to detection of the
axial position by a position detector.
The issue is whether it would have been obvious to one of
ordinary skill in the art to combine a fluid thrust balancing
system (i.e., a passage, control valve, and controller for
adjusting thrust loading) with turbo machinery having active
magnetic thrust bearings.
- 6 -
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007